Brits revealed as Classically Clueless

[Tsaraslondon]

Readers Digest Edition box-sets of "All The Classical Music You Will Ever Need"  that have been toted in this miserable magazine for decades past.

Actually they did serve a purpose. My father gave me two of those box sets when I was a mere child (still at primary school), so they became my introduction to the classics. I used to play the records on an old portable record player (the sound must have been terrible), whilst I played with my toy horses. Mostly light classics of course (I remember being rather fond of the overture to Herold's Zampa, though I couldn't sing it to you now), but they did get me interested in classical music.

Don't get me wrong, I entered my teens with a healthy love of pop and rock music, but the classics never left me in all that time. So I guess I have the Readers' Digest to thank; and my father of course.

[Coopmv]

I think it's the same everywhere. In fact I'm a bit surprised that 32% of them actually know that Tchaikovsky wrote the 1812 Overture.

Since 1812 Overture is performed in every 4th of July celebration, I will not be surprised if most Americans actually think it was composed by an American ...

[drogulus]

British culture is very much dependent on the racial element of the British people. If you were to magically replace every single native born Englishman with an Arab or an African, everything you know about Britain, its culture, history, its literature, it would all just fizzle out of existence, lock, stock and barrel. This is reality. But then, i understand truth doesn't matter much to the ideologue. All it matters is your own distorted point of view, and any dissenting opinion must be met with no less then offense and ridicule.

     Certainly the last 2 sentences are true, and amusingly ironical in the context.

     You can't take a bundle of contingent factors like "culture" and attach it to genetic lines, which cross every possible way regardless of prevailing ethnic/national ideologies, to prove differences. Not only is it racist in the formal sense (you know, truth doesn't matter, etc.), it's Lamarckism, in that it maintains that these learned behaviors are somehow inherited. How do these behaviors "know" that the person who gets them is the right ethnic type to express them properly? Of course it's a silly question since the premise is faulty both because no such inheritance occurs and no stable race/ethnicity is demonstrated particularly by the people of the British Isles. Anyway, why couldn't a "mongrel" people like the Brits develop a "mongrel" culture to suit them? I think they did, and many cultures are like that. The Japanese culture is not like that, to be sure, though I'm not sure it confers an advantage in any meaningful sense.

[marvinbrown]

"The Welsh were more likely to own a Vivaldi or a Wagner"


  Well, what can I say but God bless the Welsh  0:) 0:) 0:)!

  As an Englishman I am quite unhappy about this article but let's face it folks we are the minority here, sad but utterly true!

  marvin

[greg]

To the contrary, of all the major European nations, Britain is the one in most need of advice, since it is the most decadent, the most utterly and hopelessly deranged.

lol I forgot what Sean thought about his native country... was it the opposite (that it was too repressed or something)?

[Sid]

I don't really think it's a problem if a person can't "pin the tail on the donkey" & (say) name a composer whose music is being played. I have many friends who know the most popular (& some not so popular) classical pieces, but they might not be able to say who the composer is. As long as they enjoy the music, I don't really care if they can or cannot name a certain piece. That is beside the point.

I would also look at who they asked the survey questions to. Many children in school nowadays (at least here in Australia, but I'm sure it's similar in the UK) play instruments as part of a school  orchestra, or sing in choirs, etc. I'm pretty sure that they (the younger generation) have a good basic knowledge of the famous classical pieces & composers. I think that (as some above suggest) this "survey" was done to get such a negative outcome. Appreciation of anything, not only classical music, entails more than just naming names, but enjoying and engaging with the thing in question on some level. For example, I often go to concerts were I know nothing about the composer's works being played, or very little (some of these have been premieres). Would you call me ignorant as a result?

[Florestan]

Now, of course 1,516 people selected by Reader's Digest are highly representative of the other 60,000,000 inhabitants of the United Kingdom. 

Statistical methodology aside, though, I think that if you pick 1,516 people anywhere in Europe the results would be pretty much the same.

[Luke]

Forcibly, huh?  I always knew the Brits, er, the English, er uh, whatever they call themselves were über-sophisticated.

He wasn't talking about the uber-sophisticated English, that's precisely the point. He was talking about those hairy savages north of Hadrian's Wall and west of Offa's Dyke who for some reason resent being called English.    it tends not to bother the English themselves so much, funnily... (personally, I have to say, I don't think of myself as specifically English, even though born here, because my roots are elsewhere too - British will do me, as it's a broader category)

Since 1812 Overture is performed in every 4th of July celebration, I will not be surprised if most Americans actually think it was composed by an American ...

Yeah, like that graduation piece you play....and that My Country Tis of Thee song....and the Star-Spangled Banner...and Hail to the Chief... 

[PaulThomas]

I don't really think it's a problem if a person can't "pin the tail on the donkey" & (say) name a composer whose music is being played. I have many friends who know the most popular (& some not so popular) classical pieces, but they might not be able to say who the composer is. As long as they enjoy the music, I don't really care if they can or cannot name a certain piece. That is beside the point.

Good point, Sid

I would also add that like History, knowing the names and dates of things isn't terribly important in the grand scheme of things, what would be more interesting was if they played certain pieces of music and asked of they could roughly estimate what century or style the music was composed in, this would be far more useful as a guide to people's general appreciation of European art music (ie 'classical') than simply naming a composer and a date, as removed from any historical context the knowledge is meaningless.

To go back to the historical example, knowing that a battle took place at Waterloo in 1815 is pretty meaningless unless you know the context, likewise identifying a piece of music as by a man called Bach is useless in itself unless you know when it was written and appreciate the style in which it was written.

[Florestan]

I would also add that like History, knowing the names and dates of things isn't terribly important in the grand scheme of things, what would be more interesting was if they played certain pieces of music and asked of they could roughly estimate what century or style the music was composed in, this would be far more useful as a guide to people's general appreciation of European art music (ie 'classical') than simply naming a composer and a date, as removed from any historical context the knowledge is meaningless.

To go back to the historical example, knowing that a battle took place at Waterloo in 1815 is pretty meaningless unless you know the context, likewise identifying a piece of music as by a man called Bach is useless in itself unless you know when it was written and appreciate the style in which it was written.

Excellent points.

[Lethevich]

This could provide even more embarassing conclusions, though.

Thanks to films, I am sure that a lot of people think that Wagner is what medieval music sounded like.

[Florestan]

This could provide even more embarassing conclusions, though.

Thanks to films, I am sure that a lot of people think that Wagner is what medieval music sounded like.

If you put it this way, then films have corrupted anything, not just classical music --- thanks to them, one could think that Roman Emperors descended in the arena themselves to fight gladiators, or that most rocket scientists are gorgeous blondes with long legs, or that a barbarian can travel across the desert for a week and still display a freshly-shaved face. 

EDIT: adverbial error corrected.

[Lethevich]

Not to forget that "let's get out of here" is a valid phrase that real people use all the time

[Florestan]

Not to forget that "let's get out of here" is a valid phrase that real people use all the time

Hollywood revealed as reality clueless. 

[karlhenning]

I don't really think it's a problem if a person can't "pin the tail on the donkey" & (say) name a composer whose music is being played. I have many friends who know the most popular (& some not so popular) classical pieces, but they might not be able to say who the composer is. As long as they enjoy the music, I don't really care if they can or cannot name a certain piece. That is beside the point.

And in fact some of such people know (or, knew) large stretches of the literature which some of us may not.

[71 dB]

Hollywood revealed as reality clueless. 

Of course! Hollywood is about reality escape.

[karlhenning]

In reality, Roman Polanski had to escape to Switzerland.

[False_Dmitry]

, or that most rocket scientists are gorgeous blondes with long legs,

Hedy Lamarr patented a device that could jam enemy submarine radar, during WW2.

[Florestan]

In reality, Roman Polanski had to escape to Switzerland.

Good one! 

BTW, that's another Hollywood misrepresentation of reality: in the films the paedophile finally lands in jail. 

[Florestan]

Hedy Lamarr patented a device that could jam enemy submarine radar, during WW2.

Oh yes... engineers are brunettes, for variation.